Monthly Archives: July 2016

We’ve witnessed many beautiful summer weddings over the years at 1451 Renaissance Place. Here’s a list of some of our favorite summer wedding ideas that you can use in your wedding planning—or as inspiration for your own unique summer wedding!

Flowers

Make your guests feel like they are in the middle of a summer field, in a beautiful summer garden, or in a tropical summer setting. There are a million different ways to incorporate flowers into your summer wedding, so feel free way to make centerpieces that are completely, and uniquely, you.

Lights

We’ve had people tell us these lights look like dandelions at the end of summer, and it’s easy to see why—and why they’re one of our favorite summer wedding ideas.

Summer program fans

It’s beautiful and a really great way to keep your guests cool. Have your program printed on paper that your guests can turn into a fan (with or without a hard stick!).

Summer treats

Lemonade, sundae bar, ice tea, corn on the cob…there are so many different options for summer wedding appetizers and dinners that are perfect for a fun seasonal wedding.

Being a premier wedding venue, there has been a LOT of wedding toasts at 1451 Renaissance Place, both good and bad. To keep your toast from being one of the ‘less memorable’ (ahem) parts of your friend or family member’s wedding—and to get the wedding guests excited about your toast, use these tips to craft and deliver (drum roll, please) the perfect wedding toast. Or, if you’re the bride or groom, feel free to give these tips to your toasters for “the cherry on top” of your perfect wedding reception.

Ask the happy couple BEFORE you bring up that embarrassing childhood moment.

If you want to bring up a funny moment from the past, clear it with the happy couple prior to the wedding day so you don’t end up with an angry bride and groom.

Don’t go off on tangents.

Stick to your planned speech. Write out the speech, or at least make notes, that guide you through without additions that can damage your message—and your relationship with the bride and groom. You don’t want to put the wedding guests to sleep with a long-winded speech with no end in sight.

Let the dirty laundry stay in the closet.

Don’t bring up old boyfriends and girlfriends, or any other past missteps. Now is not the time to apologize, or compare the bride or groom to an old ex. Celebrate with positive thoughts scattered throughout your wedding speech, not with negativity. If you don’t have anything nice to say, let the bride or groom know, before the wedding day, that you are declining the chance to deliver a toast.

Watch your alcohol intake.

You can drink after the toast. For now, delay and limit your alcohol intake for the sake of your toast—and for the sake of everyone in the room. We can count on one hand the amount of drunken toasts that went well.

Keep it short.

A good wedding toast should be no more than 10 minutes long, so make it short and to the point. Rehearse and time your speech before the big day—for the sake of your guests and the newlyweds. A long wedding toast, no matter how well-practiced and thought out, is going to bore guests.

Practice, practice, practice.

As much fun as it is to go “off the cuff,” the perfect toast is well-thought out AHEAD of time and practiced to make sure your thoughts are clear and concise. A drunken “I love you man” just isn’t going to cut it; it may make your guests laugh, but it’s sure to make the newlyweds cringe.

Close on a high note.

Know how you are going to end the speech before you begin to avoid rambling with no end. “Cheers to the happy couple” or “Please join me in wishing the happy couple all the best” are a few options, or you can customize your closing to the couple’s specific interests. Whatever you close with, make sure the whole speech—from beginning to end—is a wedding gift the bride and groom always remember for all the right reasons.